The article concludes: “This is why we need government authorities ... [to] clamp down on criminal profiteering from health misinformation.”
It is not a crime to publish articles or videos with views disagreeing with the mainstream view. Not long ago the lab leak theory was considered "health misinformation" and thus criminal activity from the article's point of view. I would hope people would be more cautious after that mistake, but apparently not.
I'm layman I don't know anything about virology but looking at the facts that epidemic afterwards pandemic emerged in the middle of the city not in some outskirts of China in remote villages but in city center of multi million town next to Institute of Virology apparently from cave bats that are 1000km away with no known intermediate host my conclusion was that scientists got infected in the Wuhan Institute of Virology spread the virus to their families and then that's how it got to the "Wet Market" which was the apparent source so called "Ground Zero" of the virus.
On top of that when I heard Americans talking about how powerful and dangerous was Virus "Gain of Function" I knew it was a lab leak. So to me mainstream media is not something that can influence me a lot when I try to do my own research and thinking.
Maybe I am wrong but I wait for extent scientific research and scientific consensus and result of independent American investigation which I trust more than anyone in the world because they are still number 1 country in the world looking at science, tech, medicine and innovations. Liberal and democratic country with all the flaws that come with it.
It was absolutely INSANE seeing the number of US publications starting with "nope nope its a conspiracy theory disproven debunked dont even think about it you're racist if you believe this" in early 2020 when the possibility was raised. It was a completely valid hypothesis as to where the virus came from, but was just completely invalidated and ignored in a matter of weeks.
Now that it's been a year and things have changed vastly in society, the same outlets are repeating the exact opposite talking point "oh, it just might have some credibility now!"
Note they don't apologize for the 4-6 months of disingenuous reporting. Maybe these media companies should be "clamped down on" instead of the ethereal boogieman "anti-vaxx" industry that this article failed to bring even an ounce of credibility to.
Even if it's 100% accurate, the lab-leak scenario is very difficult to manage as a social problem.
The odds are quite large that a leak would have been a matter of incompetence or accident. Who's deranged enough to roll the dice on intentional germ warfare against your own people?
However, it's a very tempting narrative, especially since we've had an ongoing trend of demonizing China, frequently revolving around the premise of their population being infinite and disposable. Nobody wants to hear that it was some intern who threw used PPE in the dumpster instead of an incinerator. Boring and unsatisfying! Of course it's a grand and deliberate plan-- they'd be willing to kill a few million of their own people, for the sake of creating an emergency and crippling the rest of the world!
Even if we find 4k video of someone dropping a beaker and saying "Oh, shit" like some Simpsons outtake, the conspiracy crowd and war hawks will not be satisfied.
Finding the exact cause isn't going to bring back anyone we lost to the disease. There's probably nobody who can be punished in a meaningful and proportionate way. There's value in the research, for scientists and biosecurity experts, but I'm worried we're looking for succor for the general public and won't find it.
I wonder if by pushing the investigation back a few months, it was a "white lie" of omission. It bought time to cool down emotions-- so even if the result is disappointing or inconclusive, we'll hopefully avoid a violent overreaction.
Doesn't this reflect exactly back though.....if there is money from a small group, articles like this are worth even more....outrage culture is typically two sided or more.
Big tech will make money regardless ... they monetize discussion inherently so all discussion whether is it is restricted or not will be monetized. by clamping down (I am pro free speech myself) you end up just saturating the areas and forming underground movements....
It is not a crime to publish articles or videos with views disagreeing with the mainstream view. Not long ago the lab leak theory was considered "health misinformation" and thus criminal activity from the article's point of view. I would hope people would be more cautious after that mistake, but apparently not.